←back to thread

170 points bookofjoe | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.2s | source
Show context
slibhb ◴[] No.43644865[source]
LLMs are statistical models trained on human-generated text. They aren't the perfectly logical "machine brains" that Asimov and others imagined.

The upshot of this is that LLMs are quite good at the stuff that he thinks only humans will be able to do. What they aren't so good at (yet) is really rigorous reasoning, exactly the opposite of what 20th century people assumed.

replies(5): >>43645899 #>>43646817 #>>43647147 #>>43647395 #>>43650058 #
Balgair[dead post] ◴[] No.43645899[source]
[flagged]
n4r9 ◴[] No.43646621[source]
I've only read the first Foundation novel by Asimov. But what you write applies equally well to many other Golden Age authors e.g. Heinlein and Bradbury, plus slightly later writers like Clarke. I doubt there was much in the way of autism awareness or diagnosis at the time, but it wouldn't be surprising if any of these landed somewhere on the spectrum.

Alfred Bester's "The stars my destination" stands out as a shining counterpoint in this era. You don't get much character development like that in other works until the sixties imo.

replies(1): >>43649293 #
throwanem ◴[] No.43649293[source]
Heinlein doesn't develop his characters? Oh, come on. You can't have read him at all!
replies(1): >>43651479 #
n4r9 ◴[] No.43651479[source]
[The italics and punctuation suggest your comment is sarcastic, but I'm going to treat it as serious just in case.]

Yeah, I'd say characterisation is a weakness of his. I've read Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers, and Double Star. Heinlein does explore characters more than, say, Clark, but he doesn't go much for internal change or emotional growth. His male characters typically fall into one of two cartoonish camps: either supremely confident, talented, intelligent and independent (e.g. Jubal, Bernardo, Mannie, Bonforte...) or vaguely pathetic and stupid (e.g. moon men). His female characters are submissive, clumsily sexualised objects who contribute very little to the plot. There are a few partial exceptions - e.g. Lorenzo in Double Star and female pilots in Starship Troopers - but the general atmosphere is one of teenage boy wish fulfilment.

replies(2): >>43653902 #>>43657088 #
throwanem ◴[] No.43657088[source]
Excuse me for giving the impression of a pedant, but do you mean Clarke, as in Arthur C., there? I've been trying since I first read your comment to puzzle out to whom by that name you could possibly be referring in this context, and it's only just dawned on me to wonder if you simply have not bothered to learn the spelling of the name you intended to mention.
replies(1): >>43657559 #
n4r9 ◴[] No.43657559[source]
Yes, that Clarke. Sorry for putting you to the extra effort. I spelled it correctly in the initial post you replied to. Guess I assumed that people would spot the back-reference.
replies(1): >>43657766 #
1. throwanem ◴[] No.43657766[source]
> Yes, that Clarke. Sorry for putting you to the extra effort. I spelled it correctly in the initial post you replied to. Guess I assumed that people would spot the back-reference.

In entire fairness, I was distracted by you having said he and his contemporaries must all have been autistic, as if either you yourself were remotely competent to embark upon any such determination, or as though it would in some way indict their work if they were.

I'm sure you would never in a million years dare utter "the R-slur" in public, though I would guess that in private the violation of taboo is thrilling. That's fine as far as it goes, but you really should not expect to get away with pretending you can just say "autistic" to mean the same thing and have no one notice, you blatantly obvious bigot.